Seatrade Cruise News is part of the Informa Markets Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

MSC resolves to end to single-use plastic by close of 2021

MSC_Linden_Coppell.jpeg
MSC Cruises' Director of Sustainability Linden Coppell said the cruise line is 'honoured to be one of the charter’s first signatories.'
MSC Cruises has signed a new Single-Use Plastic Charter by the UK Chamber of Shipping, which sets out to end the use of single-use plastic items on board vessels by the end of 2021.

‘The pledge goes beyond the UK Government’s commitment to ban single plastic items which we hope will encourage more organisations to do more to combat what is of real global concern,’ commented Linden Coppell, director of sustainability, MSC Cruises.

‘According to research by the British government, 80% of plastic enters the marine environment from land-based sources, especially via rivers, but clearly all of us in the shipping community must play our part.’

MSC Cruises and the environment

In 2019, MSC Cruises eliminated 97m items of plastic, after identifying nearly 40,000 single-use plastic items in its hotel operations, shops, restaurants and kitchens. In the same year, it replaced almost 20m plastic straws with nine million compostable straws, removed plastic coverings on more than 10,000 sunbeds and swapped 12 tons of plastic packaging for dishwater detergents with eco-friendly alternatives.

Coppell will discuss MSC Cruises sustainability efforts at the UK Chamber of Shipping’s Single-Use Plastic in the Marine Environment webinar, showing December 15. 

Added Coppell, ‘We are honoured to be one of the charter’s first signatories and we applaud the UK Chamber of Shipping in launching its initiative.’ 

The cruise line announced a temporary pause in MSC Grandiosa's operations scheduled this month; the planned restart of MSC Magnifica is January 2021.